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Journey to Retreat 2010 – August

Posted by Debby on August 24, 2010

Our August leaders’ meeting was held this week. We are now barely three months away from the retreat, and some of our leaders have already been very busy with preparations.

Registration materials have been developed and printed, and registration packets have already been sent out to sister churches. All registration materials are ready to go, although it will be a month before we start registration at our church.
We reviewed the “results” of the retreat planning meeting (which was not well attended), and proposed other ways of presenting the retreat opportunities to our women who may want to serve. We will be bringing the sign-up sheets for the retreat to the women’s Bible study. We may also make them available after Sunday service in the Fellowship Hall, and at the Welcome Center when women pick up registration information next month.
We will make sure that a flyer insert for the bulletin is created so that it will be ready when registration for the retreat opens in mid-September. Up to that point, there will just be regular bulletin announcements so that our ladies will be kept informed and can plan ahead.

Besides the leaders involved in very preliminary things like organization, registration and retreat planning, the rest of us are just beginning to get on top of our areas of responsibility. Skit writing will begin in the next two weeks. Our quiet time activity is being planned. The schedule is being developed. Books for book reviews are being determined. Supplies for decorations are being gathered. By our September meeting, every area should have progress to report.

Posted in: Journey to Retreat 2010

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Pros and Cons – Retreat Camp

Posted by Debby on August 23, 2010

In determining a location for your overnight retreat, you can choose from two general categories: hotels and retreat camps. We have held retreats at both over the years. This year, we again checked out hotels and nearby camps where our retreat could be held, comparing amenities and costs. So we decided to give you our list of pros and cons for each. Perhaps you can think of others! Let’s begin with the retreat camp:

RETREAT CAMP – Pros

Often located outside of the city, where there is more opportunity for actual scenery, less city noise, closer to nature and a feeling of “getting away”;
Less crowded;
Often, there are different accommodation options available, ranging from hotel rooms to cabins to dorms;
Generally, a retreat camp is a little less expensive, depending on your accommodations;
Many retreat camps are Christian-owned and operated, meaning that you are mostly dealing with Christians;
May accomodate smaller groups without requiring room commitment;
Often, you can bring your own snacks into the meeting room;
More opportunity for outdoor activities, such as hiking, outdoor sports, water activities, etc.

RETREAT CAMP – Cons

Weather can be an issue because moving to meeting area or cafeteria often requires a walk outside;
Often, retreat camps are out of town and require more driving in unfamiliar territory;
Camp food often leans toward the higher fat, more carbohydrate filled “comfort” food (expect gravy!);
Food may be served cafeteria style, on their schedule;
Meeting rooms may be less comfortable, less conducive to media use;
Possibly less privacy and more rustic bathrooms;
Beds less comfortable, and you may have to bring your own bedding; and many camps still have bunk beds for certain levels of accommodations;
Dorms may present challenges due to loud sleepers, late-nighters, early risers, etc.;
Bunk beds may be an option, presenting difficulties for those sleeping in the top bunk;
May present physical challenges for older or disabled guests;
Depending on how rustic the camp is, sewer problems can be an issue;
Bugs and critters (need we say more?).

Posted in: Location, Location, Location, Retreat and Event Planning

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Assigning a Table Leader to Encourage Fellowship

Posted by Debby on August 20, 2010

At most of our women’s events that involve women eating and fellowshipping around a table, we assign a “table leader” for each table. This person is friendly and good at drawing people into the group conversation. Her job is to do her best to engage everyone at the table in conversation. This is not always easy, but she attempts to make sure that every woman attending the event feels included. In order to get everyone engaged, the table leader may also need to tactfully and gently keep one person from monopolizing the conversation around the table.

A simple beginning is by having each woman at the table introduce herself and tell a little something about herself. We try to facilitate this by using “ice breaker” questions. Sometimes these ice breaker questions are introduced by the emcee of the event; other times each table determines their own. But the goal is always to draw people into conversation, help the new women or the more reserved personalities to get acquainted and feel welcome, and to encourage fellowship.

Posted in: Little Things Make a Big Difference!

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Difficult People (Part 2)

Posted by Debby on August 18, 2010

Author Brooks Faulkner identifies nine types of difficult people with these humorous nicknames. See if any of these seem familiar:

1. The sherman tank will run right over you.

2. The star performer is entitled to your preferential treatment.

3. The megaphone will talk your ear off.

4. The bubble buster deflates everyone’s enthusiasm.

5. The volcano has a temper like Mt. St. Helen’s.

6. The cry baby is a chronic complainer.

7. The nit picker is an unpleasable perfectionist.

8. The backbiter is a mater of calculated rumor

9. The space cadet is on a different wavelength.

Some of those descriptions have a ring of truth! We do have people in our lives, and within our women’s ministries, who take advantage of us, who hurt us, who are critical and impossible to please, and who never have enough of our attention. BUT behind the difficult people of life is God, who has ordained the circumstances of our life. God has, in His perfect purpose, put difficult people in our lives for His glory and our good. He uses them as sandpaper to refine us–to help us grow and become more Christlike. Roy Hession (in The Calvary Road) says that God tests us, using difficult people to make us humble and broken before Him. God will allow problem people to come into our lives so that we will learn to depend more on His power and not our own resources. He uses them to encourage us to pray, to trust His Word and depend on His Spirit for love and grace. If that is true, then to not honor them is to not honor God.

Certainly, responding in a Christ-like manner to difficult people often requires us dying to our own selfish desires as we strive to love and serve them–and that is a good thing. Someone once said “Difficult people are the nails which keep us on the cross.“

So expect difficult people–accept them, and let God use them in your life.

Posted in: Realities of Ministry

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Spiritual Mothering – A Book Review

Posted by Debby on August 16, 2010

Spiritual Mothering by Susan Hunt, is written particularly to speak to those women in the church whom Paul addresses in Titus 2 when he states “Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husband and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.” However, this could also be a mandate for every women’s ministry. As Ms. Hunt states “every Christian woman can enter the high calling of spiritual reproduction and motherhood.”

She defines “spiritual mothering” as: “When a woman possessing faith and spiritual maturity enters into a nurturing relationship with a younger woman in order to encourage and equip her to live for God’s glory.”

In today’s society, the extended family has all but disappeared, and women are deprived of that source of security and fellowship. That, in addition to the transience of our society, makes long-term relationships with other women difficult. Women in the church today need godly mentors, and throughout this book, Ms. Hunt encourages women to invest themselves in the lives of younger women. She tells us what we are commanded to teach them, according to Titus 2, and how we can encourage, love, accept and comfort them. Woven throughout are testimonies of women whose lives have been changed by having an older godly woman mentor and teach them.

In our women’s ministries, we are encouraging our ladies to live as godly women in all areas of their lives. They are being bombarded with a very different message from the world on a daily basis. While the emphasis of this book is the one-on-one relationship, I see great value in these principles being applied within our women’s ministries. We see how Jesus gently mentored His disciples, often as a group–He invested His life into theirs, spending time with them, inspiring them, teaching them, exhorting them, encouraging them and being an example to them. As women’s ministry leaders, we can endeavor to do the same with the the ladies who choose to be involved in women’s ministry.

“Wherever you are in life’s timeline, the experiences you have been through and the faith lessons you have learned are worth perpetuating. Even as you look back and find younger women to nurture, I urge you to look ahead and avail yourself of the perspective of an older woman–you will be richer–other women will be encouraged and equipped–God will be glorified–His Word will be honored!” May we develop such relationships within our women’s ministries.

Posted in: Book Reviews

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